Meaning & Origins

From an Old English personal name derived from here ‘army’ + weald ‘ruler’. In pre-Conquest England, this was reinforced by the related Old Norse name Haraldr, introduced by Scandinavian settlers. The name was not at all popular in England after the Conquest, probably because of its association with the unfortunate King Harold, killed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. It was used in some parts of Nottinghamshire in the 16th and 17th centuries, and revived more generally, along with a number of other Old English names, in the 19th century, when it suddenly became extremely popular.